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Contributing editor Joan Duncan Oliver has spent the past year immersed in the subject of happiness, first to write a book—Happiness: How to Find It and Keep It—and then to edit a special section for this issue on happiness. Is she happier as a result? "Hard to say. But it convinced me that Buddhist practice gives us a better shot at finding true happiness than anything our consumerist culture urges us to pursue." What makes her happy? "Friends, books, laughter, the beach—though even these pleasures are fleeting. Ultimately, happiness is about appreciating the moment."